The burial place of Paul Jones was at the time a Protestant cemetery,
upon which buildings are now erected, but a French archæologist, M. de
Recaudy, who, at the request of this embassy, took the matter in hand
and made this interesting discovery, believes that he could locate
within 8 or 10 yards the spot where the body was interred, and he is
confident that a careful excavation of the place would result in the
discovery of the remains of the hero. I inclose herewith a copy of a
report which M. de Recaudy has addressed to me on the subject, which is
of great interest. M. de Recaudy suggests to me that a committee be
formed of persons interested in the matter, who would provide for the
funds to purchase the property and make the proper excavations with the
view of having the remains transferred to the United States, should they
be found. The coffin, in all probability, was of wood, and unless there
was a metallic plate bearing the name of the deceased, or a sword or
some article not perishable, it might be difficult to identify whatever
may be left of the body. I submit these suggestions to your
appreciation, and can only say that I will cheerfully cooperate in any
action having in view the removal to the United States of the remains of
Paul Jones. I also inclose a photograph showing the main buildings now
standing on the site of the Protestant cemetery mentioned in the
“report.” The structure to the right bearing the sign “Encadrements” is
supposed to stand on the spot where Paul Jones was buried.
[Inclosure.]
M. de Recaudy
to Mr. Porter.
Paris
,
October 29,
1899
.
report in reference to the site of
the burial of the remains of commodore john paul jones, and as
to the means of finding them.
Paul Jones died in Paris on the 18th of July, 1792, and was buried on
July 20 of the same year, as is established by the burial register,
of which the following is a transcription:
“On this the 20th day of July, 1792, year IV of Liberty (year I of
Egalite), at 8 o’clock in the evening and in conformity with the
decree af the National Assembly of the day previous, in presence of
the deputation of the said Assembly, composed of Messieurs Brun,
president of the deputation of the aforesaid Assembly, Bravet,
Cambon, Rouyer, Brival, Deydier, Gay-Vernon, bishop of the
Department of the Haute-Vienne, Chabot, episcopal vicar of the
Department of the Loir-et-Cher, Carlier, Petit, Le Josnes Robouaume;
and a deputation of the Consistory of the Protestants of Paris,
composed of Messrs. Maron, Pasteur, Perreaux, Bénard, Mouquin, and
Empaytaz, anciens, John Paul Jones, native of England and a citizen
of the United States, first sea officer (premier officier de mer) in
the service of the said United States, aged 45 years, and died on
the 18th of this month at his residence situated at No. 42 rue des
Tournon, in consequence of dropsy of the chest(hydropisie de
poitrine), in the sentiments of the Protestant religion. The said
burial took place in the presence of us, Pierre Francois, Simonneau,
commissioner of the King in these precincts and commissioner of
police of the section of Ponceau; in the presence of Messieurs
Samuel Blackden, colonel of dragoons in the service of the State of
North Carolina; of S. James, Col. Montflorence, formerly major in
the service of the United States; of Marie-Jean Baptiste Benoist
Beaupoil, former French officer living in Paris at No. 7 Passage des
Petits-Peres, and Louis Nicholas Villeminot, officer commanding the
grenadiers of the gendarmerie, which escorted the deputation of the
Assembly, and of others who signed with us; Brun, Gay-Vernon, bishop
and deputy; Deydier, deputy of the Ain; Rouyer, Francois Cholot,
Bénard, J. C. Mountflorence, Petit, Cambon fils ainé, Bravet,
Beaupoil, P. H. Carlier, Durvosque, Lafontaine, Simonneau, [Page 278] Jacques Brivial,
Villeminot, Robouame deputy, Marron, Perreaux, Mouquin, Empaytaz, R.
Ghiselin de Maryland; S. Blackden; Griffith, of Philadelphia.”
This document was copied in 1859 by M. Charles Read from a register
contained in the archives of the city of Paris, in the building in
the Avenue Victoria, which served as a supplementary archives for
the Hotel de Ville. This register bore the serial number 89 and
formed part of a series relating to the official status (état civil)
of Protestants, and was, for the subject of deaths, composed of five
registers. This register, numbered 89, commenced in 1779, related to
a cemetery, owned by the Protestants, situated near the Porte St.
Martin, between the tree-planted avenue (Boulevard Bonne Nouvelle)
and the rue Basse de la Voirie (a street no longer existing). It
occupied an area of 256 toises (32 extending along the tree-planted
avenue and 8 extending along the road of the Porte St. Martin to the
right of the present rue du Faubourg St. Martin). But this cemetery
was closed in 1762 by order of the lieutenant of police, under the
pretext of completing the extension of the boulevard. It had been
opened in 1724 at the instance of Mr. Hop, the Dutch ambassador, who
complained to the King of the difficulties connected with the burial
of foreign Protestants. When this cemetery was closed another one
was opened behind the St. Louis Hospital on a site which is occupied
now exactly by the buildings numbered 41, 43, 45, and 47 in the rue
Grange-aux-Belles, and number 1 in the rue des Ecluses Saint Martin.
The premises were purchased from the religious order of the
Lazarists, which owned a vast property in these parts. It is
composed of a courtyard and a garden. The entrance was not in the
rue de l’Hôpital Saint Louis, now rue Grange-aux-Belles, as might be
supposed from the documents, where it is sometimes indicated as
behind the St. Louis Hospital, sometimes on the site of the St.
Louis Hospital, sometimes in the rue de l’Hôpital Saint Louis, and
sometimes, by error, behind the Saint Louis Church, but in the rue
des Morts, formerly rue Saint Maur, and to-day rue des Ecluses Saint
Martin. No Paris historian explains this naming of the rue des
Morts, which was apparently due to a pun which is not unusual in
cases like that of the street in question, which was known later by
its original name of the rue Saint Maur. The creation of this
cemetery was evidently the cause.
One enters at first in a courtyard which contained the house of the
concierge and various unimportant buildings. Then one descends
several steps. One reaches the garden, which extends mostly on a
lower level than that of the rue Grange-aux-Belles. Until the year
1777 burials were made exclusively in the garden. At that date it
was decided that the Protestants of the Kingdom (French), until then
deprived of a decent place for burial (they were buried in fields or
gardens), should be henceforth buried in the courtyard, and to avoid
any possible confusion between French and foreign Protestants
reference should be made for the designation of allotments to the
decision of the embassy of Holland. But it had also been decided
that a separate register should be kept for each category of dead.
It is known that this order was disregarded. It is likely that the
other instructions also remained a dead letter. At the time of the
Commodore’s death the garden must have been long since filled up so
as no longer to be a “decent place of burial,” as had been desired.
Quite recently the owner of the washing establishment (laundry)
situated at No. 45 rue Grange-aux-Belles (garden site), wishing to
increase the depth of the pit where his boiler was placed, excavated
at a depth of 2 meters 50 centimeters a viscous black substance
containing fragments of human bones. This unnatural earth
constitutes what is technically called “corpse loam” (“le gras de
cadaver”). This is the special condition of over-saturated
cemeteries. On the courtyard side, on the contrary, the earth that
was excavated to make a trench for some water pipes was found to be
less impure, and bones, shin bones, and shoulder blades were
discovered in a fairly good state of preservation.
A tenant who wished to bury a dog found almost at the soil level two
skulls. Hence it appears that long before 1792 they had been
compelled to bury both categories of the dead in the courtyard, and
Paul Jones being one of the latest interments it is probable that
his remains are not far from the entrance door, the place most
likely to have been used for the latest burials. But this is merely
a hypothesis.
Was the Commodore ever disinterred? Two authors state that his
remains are in the Pere Lachaise. But in this cemetery the only
Joneses are Jones (Edward Thomas), died in 1833; Jones (John
Quereau), died in 1822; Jones (Charles), died in 1829; Jones
(James), died in 1827. A fifth Jones, who died in 1820, is described
as George Jones on the tombstone, and as Jones on the register of
the administration. Moreover, Charles Jones had taken, in 1820, a
perpetual concession for a widow lady named Mathews, who died in
1826; and in a tomb of the Colton-Graves family is found Olivia
Augusta Jones. This is the only Jones in the tombs containing
several bodies. Consequently the Commodore can not be in Pere
Lachaise Cemetery. [Page 279]
Moreover, the cemetery of the Rue-aux-Belles was officially closed
on January 1, 1793, less than six months after the death of Paul
Jones; and on the 3d day of Thermidor, Year IV, it was sold as
national property and was deeded to Monsieur Phalipeaux. Some time
afterwards a night-soil remover named Sage established himself on
the premises, and in order to facilitate the entrance of his carts
he raised the level of the garden to the level of the courtyard.
Later the estate was divided into two lots as they exist to-day. The
first lot (41 and 43 Rue Grange-aux-Belles) covers the area of the
garden. It measures 38 meters by 40. The second lot (45 and 47 of
the same street, and 1 Rue des Ecluses St. Martin) occupies the area
of the former courtyard, and measures 26 meters by 40. The total
area of the premises (2,560 meters square) still belongs to the Sage
family, but the buildings numbered 41 and 43 are the property of M.
Bassigny. Number 41 is composed of two stories; number 43 is
composed of a large paved courtyard in which is a shed and a storage
for grains and hay, under which is an excavation large enough to
hold the boiler that formerly stood there, and of a small garden and
dwelling of light construction. Number 45 contains a laundry, the
floor of which is cement, and comprises drains for conducting water
into the street. This laundry is built without foundations. As to
excavations, there is the place for the boiler already mentioned,
and a cellar that has the appearance of being very old. At number 47
is found on the side of the Rue Grange-aux-Belles a house of three
stories, and adjoining the Rue des Ecluses St. Martin is a cheap
construction with no upper stories and in a dilapidated condition.
The remainder of the area is represented by a courtyard and several
unimportant buildings.
It results from this sale and the almost immediate occupancy of the
site, that the naval hero of the war of American independence has
never been exhumed. Since the Protestant Cemetery was closed in 1804
there does not exist in Paris any other cemetery whither his remains
could have been decently transferred. It has been seen that his
remains are not in Pere Lachaise. Neither are they in other
cemeteries since created, consequently they must be in the site
adjoining the Rue-aux-Belles. Is there a reasonable chance of
recovering his bones? If he was buried in a wooden coffin there may
be only found some unrecognizable fragments; if the body was encased
in a leaden coffin there is no doubt but what his remains can be
identified. But was this done? Mr. Gouverneur Morris, the United
States minister in Paris at the time of the decease of Paul Jones,
mentions in his diary that the funeral was a very modest one. May
not the word “modest” refer to the material supplied for the burial,
for it is known by the official register that a brilliant assemblage
attended the funeral.
In any event, even if his bones can not be identified, it is
nevertheless absolutely certain that he is there, and that the
acquisition of the site of the former cemetery could be made under
advantageous circumstances. A square might be made bearing the the
name Commodore Paul Jones, upon which a monument might be
appropriately erected to his memory and without prejudice to any
excavations that might be hereafter deemed advisable.
All the above information is based upon documents consulted in
various archives, or taken from plans. No statement has been made
that is not supported by documentary proof that in each case can be
produced if needed.
